Highest Bidder Won’t Automatically Win 2025 Oil Block Licences — NUPRC

The federal government has said the highest financial bidder will not automatically emerge as the winner of an oil block in the ongoing 2025 Licensing Round, stressing that technical competence and operational capability will play a key role in determining successful bidders.

Speaking at the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said the evaluation process was designed to ensure oil and gas assets are awarded to companies capable of developing them, rather than firms that simply submit the highest financial offers.

According to her, the assessment process is rigorous, objective and focused on securing long-term value for Nigeria’s upstream petroleum sector.

“The evaluation was rigorous. It was objective. It was simple. And it was to place assets in the hands of bidders capable of delivering the best overall long-term value. It isn’t going to be just about your ability to be the highest bidder,” Eyesan said.

She explained that the commission assessed bidders based on technical competence, industry experience, organizational and operational capacity, the credibility of their proposed work programs, resource commitment and their ability to execute projects within specified timelines.

“We want to ensure that you have the right capabilities to deliver the assets, in addition to having the financial resources to deliver these assets,” she added.

Eyesan also assured participants of the transparency of the commercial bid opening, noting that no bidder had prior access to the financial submissions.

“Today, the commercial components of the qualified bids will be opened. Forget whatever you’ve been told, forget whatever you’ve heard; nobody has seen anybody’s commercial bids. We will demonstrate that today.

“This approach recognizes that these assets must be operated by credible, competent operators—not, I repeat, by operators who can bid the highest,” she said.

The commercial bid opening marks the final stage of the licensing process before successful bidders are announced.

The 2025 Licensing Round, announced on November 11, 2025, under the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, offered 50 oil and gas blocks across seven sedimentary basins. The assets include 16 Niger Delta onshore blocks, 18 shallow water blocks, one deep offshore block, three blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin and four in the Benue Trough.

The bid portal opened on December 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held on January 14, 2026, in Lagos. Registration and prequalification submissions closed on February 27, with the prequalification exercise completed on March 16.

Under the licensing guidelines, successful bids are determined through a weighted evaluation of signature bonus commitments, proposed work programs and performance security, combining both technical and commercial scores rather than financial offers alone.

The framework is intended to ensure that petroleum assets are awarded to investors with the financial capacity, technical expertise and operational capability required to accelerate oil and gas exploration and production in Nigeria.